Portland businesses rebound after historic high tide causes extensive damage
PORTLAND (WGME) -- Clean up continues all along Maine’s coast after Saturday's historic high tide.
Homes, restaurants, shops, and more are all facing serious damage caused by the storm.
Businesses like DiMillo's tried their best to brace for the storm, but one of the co-owners says it wasn't enough.
“We weren’t ready for what happened. Nobody was,” said Johnny DiMillo, who is a part owner of DiMillo's on the Water.
A group of pilings called “dolphins” keep DiMillo's in place.
On Friday, they built it up more, so it could withstand the then-predicted historic high tide.
“They were severely damaged. If we hadn’t had some work recently, last fall, they would have crumbled to pieces,” DiMillo said.
Crews have been working on those along with an emergency exit ramp.
The hinges broke off the platform, but security chains kept it in place.
“Thankfully, no broken windows and most importantly nobody got hurt,” DiMillo said.
DiMillo's is ready to reopen.
Down the street, Porthole is serving up breakfast, lunch and dinner again.
“Between Wednesday and Saturday, we had very high winds and very, very high surf,” said Brad Belding, a manager at the Porthole Restaurant & Pub.
Water surrounded two sides of the nearly 100-year-old restaurant and pub.
“We had no flooding in the main building here. We did in the back pub, but the deck outside was completely covered and the roads were covered,” Belding said.
The back room is damaged, and the carpets are ruined.
All things considered; Belding thinks they faired pretty well.
“But the fact of closing a couple days once again, we lose business. You know it’s a tough time of year anyway down here on the wharf,” Belding said.
He says they'll be doing construction in their pub over the next few weeks to get it ready for customers to return.